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Volume 04: Granting Purpose
Granting Purpose is the fourth volume of the Silver Diamond series. Publisher's Synopsis Rakan makes the bold decision to return to the other world with Chigusa and the others. But what awaits them is a world without light or green, a world that is beginning its end. To top it off, as soon as they arrive, Rakan is immediately mistaken for the Prince and attacked by a strange group of people. Who are they, and what do they want? Plot Chapter 10: Threads and Intentions Immediately after the Prince and Kinrei leave, the portal they, Chigusa, Narushige, and Tohno came through begins to close. Rakan makes a snap decision and asks to be taken along with the three men, and the four leave Rakan's original world. The scene shifts to Kinrei and the Prince, who have arrived back at the palace. The Prince slaps Kinrei for closing the portal without permission; Kinrei protests, saying that if he had left it open the Prince would have been in danger should Senroh and the Fake Prince come after him. The Prince, however, was thrilled to have met his younger brother, saying he was mesmerized watching Rakan grow the gun tree. He orders Kinrei to re-open the portal so his brother can get through, believing that Chigusa will protect Rakan long enough for Rakan to reach the Capitol, and finishes by saying “''Then I will kill him…and love him dearly.” Kinrei obeys and says he’ll re-open the distortion, but the Prince interrupts, saying that Rakan’s group has already reached their world. Narushige regains his bearings, looking around for the rest of the group. When he turns around, he sees Rakan lying peacefully asleep in Chigusa’s lap, apparently exhausted from his late night and early morning. The three decided to let him sleep and instead discuss their feelings of guilt: they feel that they forced Rakan to make a hasty decision that he won’t like when he wakes up. Despite that, however, none want him to leave, and instead vow to protect Rakan so that he never regrets his decision to leave his old world. Rakan wakes up, and instead of his predicted feelings of disappointment, expresses only surprise at their desert surroundings. He checks the time and sets out breakfast for everyone to eat, much to the shock of his companions. While they eat, Rakan apologizes; he feels that he pushed Narushige and Tohno to return to their world when they never had a reason to. The group smiles, and Rakan is smooshed in between Narushige and Chigusa in a hug. The three men renew their vow to protect Rakan, and Tohno reveals his first name to the group: Tohji. Narushige recognizes it as a Numbered Child’s name, but Rakan merely thinks it’s cool. Some distance away, two young men watch the group. They mistake Rakan for the Prince and run to tell Kazuhi, who orders the capture of the “Prince”. Chapter 11: Enemies and Friends After finishing eating, the group gathers their things in preparation to leave the area. Rakan observes the landscape around them, noting except for the lack of sun, the desert was extremely hospitable for humans- humidity in the air, a soft wind, and the temperature wasn’t too hot or cold. Chigusa notices men moving towards them in the distance and alerts the others. Rakan begs the other three not to kill the bandits approaching them; they’re initially doubtful, noting that killing attacking bandits was normal for their world. Rakan wins in the end, however, getting Chigusa to promise he would capture the bandits without harming anyone in the process. While Rakan hides in the shadows of a rock, Chigusa, Narushige, and Tohji split up to deal with the bandits. Chigusa methodically destroys the bandits’ swords while Rakan grows Tohji a bow and arrow, who uses it to close the windows in the far off bandit fort, preventing the bandits inside from shooting arrows out. Narushige destroys the swords of several more bandits, and soon the fight is over. Five bandits have been immobilized by a net gun, and Rakan rejoins the group, thanking them for not killing anyone. Rakan approaches the bandits and apologizes for being so rough with them. Chigusa notices that there are more bandits in a building through a rock cleft. He suggests storming it so that they’ll be able to sleep indoors that night. Just then, an arrow flies by their heads, Chigusa catching it. A man, who one of the imprisoned bandits calls Kazuhi, stands atop a rock, aiming a plant crossbow at them. Kazuhi jumps down and apologizes for his men, saying that they were out of line; one of the guards protests, saying their orders were to kill the “Prince” and his companions, but Kazuhi denies it. Rakan jumps in, calling Chigusa’s name, alerting the bandits to the fact that they’re dealing with the famous Senroh Chigusa, a rumored monster. Kazuhi offers to kill his men to show that he never meant for them to attack Senroh. Rakan jumps in front of Kazuhi, demanding to know why he would kill his friends. Kazuhi backs off (with some encouragement from Chigusa and Narushige) and offers to let the four sleep with them. They arrive at a series of buildings that are supported by columns of rock; Tohji and Narushige comment that the group doesn’t look like a clan. Kazuhi says that he is the last of a wandering tribe of bandits, while the others are people with grudges against the Prince. Chigusa identifies them as the Frontier Guards, a group of Numbered Children who were abandoned by the Prince. Chapter 12: I'll Give You Meaning The chapter starts with a woman kneeling in front of a young boy, holding a necklace out. She says it will be his lucky charm, and that it would be a comfort for him. Rakan is immediately misidentified as the Prince when they arrive. He protests, but isn’t believed. Chigusa breaks up the argument with his gun, repeating his request for a place to sleep. Narushige cuts the tree sap nets, freeing their prisoners, and the four are led off. A man named Miya shows up, demanding to know where and what Kazuhi’s been doing. Kazuhi says he wants to talk to Miya about something, and tells one of the bandits, Akiichi, to show Rakan and company to their rooms. When they arrive, Rakan asks what Numbered Children are. Tohji replies that they are literally children who have numbers in their names (for example, Tohji, where the “ji”, 二, is the word for two). There’s an old tradition in their land that when a useless child is born, a number is put in their name. That number counts upwards with each new useless child. Despite the children being useless, it’s considered bad luck to kill them, and so they are counted as extra and are segregated. Akiichi recounts that one day, the Prince gathered all the Numbered Children from different places and promised to give them a purpose. The children were told that they would become the new Frontier Guards, and were sent to the outlands and forgotten about. From then on the Frontier Guards began to hate the Prince. Rakan gives a hug to Akiichi, and Chigusa joins in. After recovering from the unexpected assault, Akiichi asks Rakan if he will kill Kazuhi. Rakan asks if Kazuhi isn’t Akiichi’s friend, and Akiichi replies that Kazuhi wasn’t even one of the abandoned Numbered Children- he was already living there when they arrived. Akiichi offers the necklace Kazuhi wears as a reward for his death, but the group is interrupted by Kazuhi, who is sitting on the windowsill. He tosses Akiichi out the window and follows him. Akiichi says that he can’t stand having to follow Kazuhi’s orders anymore, which is why he wants him dead. Kazuhi calls him stupid, saying nothing will change with his death. He takes off his necklace and offers it to Akiichi, saying it’s only a lucky charm that his mother gave him when she tossed him away. He wonders out loud what possible use a lucky charm could have in the world they live in before tossing it to Akiichi, who lets it fall to the sand. Kazuhi, angry by this point, talks about how there’s nothing you can rely on in their world, and so should just enjoy the twilight. Rakan realizes that, more than just having no fighting intent, Kazuhi had completely given up on everybody and everything in the world. Akiichi asks Kauzhi if he means that they have no future, that if them being alive had any meeting. He refuses to give up, saying that they weren’t dead yet. Rakan jumps in, saying that he would do something about it. He declares that he’s the Prince’s younger brother, and that he was thrown to another world 15 years ago, but is now back to stop the Prince. He says that the Prince is the one making the world wither, and that he would be the one to bring the green back. He picks up Kazuhi’s good luck charm from the ground, where it had broken. A sprout begins to grow from the amulet on the necklace, and Chigusa grabs Rakan and jumps from the cliff. Sprouts from Kazuhi’s necklace falls with them, and the two land amid flowers. Narushige points down at them and says, “''He is the Sanome Prince.” Volume Extras The US Tokyopop edition included four pages of fanart submitted by readers. Reviews Editions Sd4 english.jpg|Silver Diamond 4, English Edition sd4 french.jpg|Silver Diamond 4, French Edition sd4 german.jpg|Silver Diamond 4, German Edition sd4.jpg|Silver Diamond 4, Japanese Edition K4.jpg|Silver Diamond 4, Korean edition Category:Volumes 1-9 Category:Volumes